Now that you've shot your video, you can get started with the all-important task of learning how to edit your video into a movie. Editing video is a lot like editing a slideshow—but with a few new twists. This chapter covers the basics of video editing using Movie Maker and other video editing tools.

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Now
that
you've
shot
your
video,
you
can
get
started
with
the
all-important
task
of learning
how
to edit
your
video
into
a movie.

Editing
video
is a
lot
like
editing
a slideshowbut
with
a few
new
twists.
This
chapter
covers
the
following:

A
tour of Movie MakerYou'll
discover the basic functions
and learn about the interface
(without having to know how
to use the program yet).

A
hands-on Movie Maker exerciseWith
detailed step-by-step instructions,
you'll
learn how to edit a few clips
(and music and photos, if you
have them) together for a beginning
exercise. (You can use these
same instructions in your ongoing
video editing, simply expanding
the number of video clips and
other material.)

Top
10 tips for editing your videoEditing
involves more than knowing how
your editing software works.
In this chapter you'll
learn about the creative aspects
of editing and the importance
of audio and music.

How
to use effects and titles and
where to find music and sound
effectsIn
this chapter you'll
learn how to use video effects,
learn how to use titles to structure
and liven up your movie, and
learn where to go for free or
low-cost music and sound effects
downloads that can add more
life and energy to your movies.

Editing
inspirationA
sidebar on DVDs about TV and
film editors introduces entertaining
programs that take you inside
the editing process.

In
addition
to what
you
learn
here,
in Chapter
10, "Resources
for
Learning," you'll
learn
more
about
upgrading
your
editing
skills
(with
a list
of popular
Movie
Maker
websites)
and
other,
more
full-featured
editing
software
available
on the
market.
Many
of the
editing
programs
are
available
for
free
trial
and
include
DVD-burning
software
(which
is not
part
of Movie
Maker).
You
can
go to
Chapter
10 now
to get
Web
addresses
for
free
trial
downloads
if you're
interested
in trying
out
more
complete
tools.
If you
use
a tool
other
than
Movie
Maker,
you'll
still
find
the
top
10 editing
tips
list
and
sidebar
resources
in this
chapter
very
useful.

Are
you
ready
for
a tour
of Movie
Maker?
Let's
get
an overview
of the
program,
and
then
we'll
jump
into
how
to edit
your
first
video
clips.

Getting
Acquainted
with
Movie
Maker:
The
Grand
Tour

This overview tour of Movie Maker is only a tour. It is designed to
help you get the big picture of what’s available in Movie Maker.
You’ll find that Movie Maker is actually pretty easy to use. If you have
put together a slideshow using your computer, you’ll see that the process
of using Movie Maker isn’t that much different—except that you have
the added elements of motion and audio.

After the tour, we’ll get back to basics and focus on only the easy,
simple, essential steps of making your first movie. So relax and enjoy the
tour!

The Movie Tasks pane is the engine room of Movie Maker, and it’s where
you’ll do most tasks, so you should focus on learning how it works, and
then you’ll be ahead of the game.

As with most software programs, there are multiple ways to access features in
Movie Maker. You can use the Movie Tasks pane for most of your work; it’s
the easiest way to get around in Movie Maker. That’s the approach
we’ll take to navigating in Movie Maker. Before we dive in to the tour,
here’s a list of the basic steps of using Movie Maker, which this chapter
covers in detail:

Finding Movie Maker

If you have Windows XP, you’ll find Movie Maker already loaded on your
computer. If you don’t already have Movie Maker, or you can download a
free copy of Movie Maker from Microsoft.com’s Movie Maker website
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx).
Then you need to follow the Setup Wizard steps to install the software.

Clip—You use the Clip menu to trim your clips and
perform other functions.

Play—The Play menu moves your clips forward and
backward—frame-by-frame, as a clip, or as a storyboard.

Help—The Help menu shows you where to get help for
all of Movie Maker’s features and provides links to online resources at
the Microsoft website.

The Toolbar

Below the menus is the toolbar, shown in Figure
3.2, which provides shortcuts
for many of the menus we’ve just explored. If you’ve used Word, for
instance, many of the shortcuts in the toolbar will seem familiar—Save,
Undo, Redo, and so on. The buttons Tasks and Collections let you shift easily
between those two views.

The Movie Tasks Pane

On the left of your screen is a section titled Movie Tasks. This is the Movie
Tasks pane, which is so easy to use that you don’t really need to use the
menu or the toolbar often.

As shown in Figure
3.3, the Movie Tasks pane is divided into three main
categories—Capture Video, Edit Movie, and Finish Movie—plus an
onscreen help section called Movie Making Tips.

To see what’s available within each of the three main categories, you
can click the arrows beside the titles. For example, you can see all the
listings under Capture Video in Figure
3.3. To see the similar listing of tasks
available under Edit Movie, you click the downward-pointing arrow to the right
of Edit Movie.

The Collections Pane

The center of the Movie Maker screen is the Collections pane, where you can
see the video clips you’ve selected from your collections (see Figure
3.4). Movie Maker stores your clips in collections, and over time, you will see
more and more filenames under this option when you click it. The Collections
pane also shows video effects and transitions.

You can access the same information you see at the left in the Collections
pane more efficiently by using the drop-down toolbar menu items to display
collections. This shows all the same information but leaves the Movie Tasks pane
visible as well, so you can navigate more easily to more of the features you use
often.

You can also access video effects and transitions from the Movie Tasks pane,
under Edit Movie. Again, using the menu to view your collections is simpler and
easier than opening the Collections pane.

You can click Video Effects to see the effects that come with Movie Maker
(see Figure
3.6). Effects are useful but not essential, and many editors
don’t use any effects other than fade in at the beginning of a video or
fade out at the end of a video. Effects are fun to play with when you have time
to explore them, but you should use them sparingly in your movies.

You can click Video Transitions to see the transitions that come with Movie
Maker (see Figure
3.7). Although there are lots of transitions, 99% of the time,
you only need to use one transition: the dissolve. (You’ll learn more
about dissolves later in this chapter.) Again, you can play around with
transitions and explore them when you have time.

Want to make your movie look like an old movie? Or speed it up or slow it
down? Movie Maker’s video effects let you do all these things.

You can browse the video effects options by clicking View Video Effects under
Edit Movie in the Movie Tasks pane.

See an effect you want? You just drag it over the clip you want to change in
the Storyboard view and release it. You can preview it in the monitor by
clicking Play.

If you want to perform a simple fade between two clips, you can also change
to the Timeline view and then simply drag one clip onto another (see Figure
3.5). A blue line appears, showing the length of the effect.

If you want an effect on only part of a clip, you split the clip to create a
separate clip in the Storyboard or Timeline view that is the one you want to
apply the effect to.

To learn more about making fast- or slow-motion clips, see the sidebar
"Using Video Effects to Slow Up, Slow Down, or Flip Shots" in Chapter 7,
"Project 3: Making Sporting Event Movies."

The Video Monitor

On the right side of the screen is the video monitor, where you can preview
video clips and edits before saving them.

NOTE

You can make the video monitor bigger or smaller. To do so, you just position
your cursor over the left edge of the monitor and then click and drag the edge
to resize the monitor window.

The Storyboard View

At the bottom of the Movie Maker screen is a horizontal row that looks like a
filmstrip (see Figure
3.8). This is called the Storyboard view, and it’s
the editor’s workhorse. You’ll be using this area to edit your
video. It shows the clips you put into your movie, in the order in which you
arrange them.

The Storyboard View Versus the Timeline View

The Storyboard and Timeline views give you different views of your video.

Whereas the Storyboard view shows you a frame from the beginning of each of
your clips (plus video transitions), the Timeline view shows you more about
other elements, including the video frames, audio, music, and titles.

Let’s look at a sample movie project from both the Storyboard and
Timeline views. The simplified view in the Storyboard view, as shown in Figure
3.12, emphasizes the visual building blocks of the movie. The more complex
Timeline view, as shown in Figure
3.13, shows you all the elements. Both have
their virtues and uses.

Figure 3.12 Like a
filmstrip, the Storyboard view displays the visual elements of a movie.

Figure 3.13 Compared
to the Storyboard view, the Timeline view provides more of an overall project
overview, displaying more information about the audio elements and compressing
the visual display.

Movie Maker Projects

A video is called a project in Movie Maker. Projects are the code
that knits together all the various pieces of a video, including video, audio,
music, pictures, transitions, effects, and more. Project filenames end with
.MSWMM.

Projects are not the actual video, audio, photo, or other files. If you move
your video, audio, or photo files from one location to another, you have to edit
your project to let Movie Maker know the new location of your files. Your Movie
Maker project is, in a way, an index of how all the elements of your
video relate to each other. Another way to think of this is that the Movie Maker
file is the connective tissue that ties all your movie elements
together. This is why Movie Maker needs you to keep all your files in the
original locations you gave them; if you move files, Movie Maker tells you it
can’t find them (until you provide the new location information).

In this overview tour, you’ve seen the various components of Movie
Maker and how much you can do with its simple, easy-to-use interface. Movie
Maker puts all you need to edit video at your fingertips.